Thoughts about it all

Swim
I'm really pleased with that swim - have been trying to work out what was responsible. I think mainly the interval training. This is the first year I have done this, and using the wetronome http://www.wetronome.com/ was instrumental. Also the single arm drill that I have only recently learnt made a big difference.
At present I think I would just continue to do those two things as they are far from reaching a plateau.

Transitions
Again really pleased with this - the plan of having as little as possible to put on, just grabbing the stuff and going, worked well. This was the first year that I took the wetsuit off quickly - mainly just rolling it down as far as it will go before trying to step out of it. Liked leaving the hat and goggles in the sleeve - nice touch.

Bike
Here is where all the improvements need to be made.
1. Putting gloves on whilst on the bike played a big part in the crash - either no gloves next time, or need to put them on in transition.
2. Various equipment problems and bike set up - this can all be solved by getting out on the roads for a good month before the race. This year I favoured the indoor turbo a bit too much. Maybe a good compromise would be to do some normal time trials.
3. For a very technical course like this it's an absolute necessity to go up and ride the course before hand (I could also see if the road bike would have been any better)
4. It felt like leg strength was a limiter here - I haven't done any weights for cycling before (all the studies are fairly inconclusive - riding more seems to be the solution) so will plan to work on this.
5. Bike fit - I now know most of the principles so need to make all the adjustments and play around in the off season. It's far too easy to leave this till it's too late. It was ridiculous to be doing this so close to the race.
6. If I'm really serious about delivering a good bike split I need to think about getting a power meter - these are not cheap - between £1000-£2000. I'll do some research, quite hard to justify. I have just heard about something that could revolutionise this area that is due out this year - http://www.metrigear.com/ this may put all the others out of business.
7. Fueling on the bike - I was over ambitious this time. Would drop it by 20%. You can always get more from the aid stations if it goes well. I didn't like to consume these amounts whilst training (not great for the teeth!) so was a bit in the dark.
8. I became a bit too obsessed with aerodynamics - Part of me thinks there is a bit of a conspiracy with the manufacturers to get us to buy the latest stuff. The time spent thinking about it would be better spent cycling.
9. The turbo sessions;
They became too long - I need to keep these to under an hour to prevent getting mentally stale.
It was difficult to see how they translated to the road - I think the best ones to keep doing are the shorter lower cadence intervals (strength)
10. Haven't written anywhere else but there were a few near crashes with other cyclists doing strange things in the road ahead - probably need to get a break on the aerobars too (think it's called a splitter)

Run
Two things here, continue with the technique coaching, and more running in the running flats/barefoot to get the lower legs stronger. Knowing the pace was the key here and the garmin made this possible.

Recovery
This can always be better - early nights! I don't think it's that essential to eat loads unless you've done a mega session or are planning to do another quality session within 24hrs.
It's to be expected but I have quite a few asymmetries in terms of flexibility and strength - I need to work slowly in the right direction on these.

Overall - (after the long break) continue what I'm doing and work on the bike.

I'll keep the blog going and especially want to complete all the sections on the science behind endurance physiology etc. I have been thinking the 11 week concept is a good one. In the coming year 8 weeks off would leave 44. First 11 to work on the limiters, 2nd 11 for base training, 3rd 11 for building, final 11 as before. Will see if I'm as keen in 8 weeks time - there's a lot I want to do at work and the family deserves some pay back, they've been brilliant - a lot can change.